We arrived at our new home, The JW Marriott Grosvenor House. Whoa, baby! Sometimes in life, it is fun to pretend you belong in an environment you have no business being in. We turned up our noses as we walked in the lobby and tried our best to pretend like we could afford to stay there. The hotel is gorgeous, swanky, and right on Park Lane.
Thanks to our Marriott Visa rewards program we could... for free!! Not expecting them to have our room available, we asked if we could put our things in a luggage room while we explored. To our surprise, our room was ready. We went upstairs and walked into to a room that was triple the size of any room we had seen in Europe. In fact, it was double the size of most US hotel rooms. There was a huge comfy bed, a beautiful bathtub with cool antique fixtures, complimentary bath salts, and big fuzzy robes. Watch out Kate and Wills, we were feeling like royalty that day!
After gushing over the room (which we later agreed we would have still stayed at Arosfa even if we could have afforded to stay here multiple nights) we went back out to play. We were excited to go to the famous Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
Taking Rick's advice, we arrived early to reserve our spot on the fence. We arrived in time to be in the 2nd row of people smashed up against the fence. Rick warned us of pick pocketers so I spend most of the time on edge and warning Andrew to keep his hands in his pockets. Are experience was also dampened by whiny children and over-tired parents standing around us.
Finally, after lots of shouting, the changing of the guard took place. The band then sat and played Adele and the BeeGees... it didn't exactly scream ceremonious. The palace was closed and you couldn't get anywhere near the guards... no funny face pictures. The whole thing was very anticlimactic. It ended up being the low point of our time in London. Definitely a wasted morning and I wouldn't recommend it.
Before it was even over we squeezed our way through the crowd to escape. It actually ended up being cool as we had an up close and personal look at the old guard going back to the barracks.
From here we walked to Westminster Abbey. This was one of the only lines we had to wait in the entire trip. We didn't wait long, but I imagine you would in the summer time. We got in with our London Passes and picked up a free audio guide. So many of the attraction we went to had these audio guides and I can't sing their praises enough. They allow you to go at your own pace and not stress over trying to hear a tour guide.
Changing of the Guard was a disappointment, but Westminster was the opposite. I didn't know what to expect other than what I had seen on TV, watching the Royal Wedding. Pictures are not allowed inside, so this is all we have...
There was a service going on as we were walking around. I had no idea (once again, should have done more research ahead of time) so may famous people were buried inside: Kings, Queens, Writers, Poets, etc. I think I was most excited to see John Wesley, founder of our Methodist faith. This was another place we could have spent hours, but got the overview and moved on. It was truly amazing to think of all of the weddings, baptisms, coronations, and funerals this ancient building has seen. Oh if those walls could talk. We passed by the coronation chair (so cool) on our way out. We did not tour the gardens. I really wanted to go to Evensong to hear the choir sing, but it just didn't work in our schedule... next time.
By this point our tummies were rumbly and we stopped at a pub just down the street from the Abbey. The bartender and staff were less than willing to help out the American tourists, it was not the kind of place "where everybody knows your name." Or maybe it was, unless you were Americans and then nobody cares about your name.
Andrew managed to get a pint of Guinness and I had a Pimms (fruity cocktail). He had fish and chips and I had a cottage pie which was the British version of a shepherd's pie. It was eh. Definitely nothing to write home about.
Our next stop was the Churchill War Rooms. We used our London Passes again (now that I'm writing about all of these places, I think we definitely got our monies worth). The tour was a history buff's dream. I enjoyed it. This was our last museum stop of the trip and I was saturated in history. It was cool to see the actual buildings where everything went down during WWII.
We went back to the hotel and took a little Disco Nap. We had heard that this was the first night of the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. We dressed up and made our way across the park to see what it was. Essentially, it was a fair. We walked through and didn't stay but it was fun to people watch. We hadn't been to Oxford Street and decided to take a night time stroll through the shopping district. Speaking of shopping, we never did make it to the famous Harrods. Oh well.
As we walked in and out of the shops on Oxford Street, we saw tons of people with Primark bags. So of course, when we came upon Primark we had to stop in. It was a department store. But, everything was extremely affordable. I went a little nuts, mostly buying gifts. In the men's section, we came across Spiderman hooded fleece footie pj's. Andrew and I decided we had to get them to surprise my mom on Christmas morning. He said he would only do it if I got some to, so I got a dinosaur one, complete with spikes and a tail.
Our very first day in London (before Paris) we overheard some American tourists talking about how good Spaghetti House was. We walked by one on our way back to the hotel and decided to stop in. It was delicious! I don't remember what Andrew had but my Orecchietti ai broccoli sticks out in my head. Yum!
We made it back to the Jay-Dub (as we classily referred to it). Everyone in the lobby was in a tuxedo or a ball gown, we got several condescending glances as we strolled in with our Primark bags. Oh well, didn't care.
We had a lovely evening of luxury in our one night at the Jay-Dub.
The next morning, we woke up and Andrew went and grabbed us coffee and pastries from the snack bar in the lobby as I tried to figure out how we were going to get all of our things back into our luggage and keep it under the required weight.
We still had time, I still had room in the luggage, and there were still a few things I regretted not taking home from Primark the night before. So, Andrew cautiously walked me back to Primark and stood close by to make sure I didn't get out of control. (Side note: months later, I LOVE almost everything I brought home and wish I could go back to shop... unfortunately the savings do not equal the cost of a plane ticket).
We returned to the hotel, finished packing, and were on our way to Heathrow in the back of a (very expensive) luxury car. Apparently there are no cheap (we used points to get this room) ways out of the Jay-Dub. Oh well! The seats were heated and it was nice!
On our next trip, we would like to take several day trips to maybe Windsor, Stonehenge, Cambridge, Oxford, and Greenwich. We'd ideally like to do much of the English countryside and Ireland as well.
Back to real life, we had no problems getting out of London, didn't sleep much again on the flight. I wore my Gator gear as we were travelling on the day of the Florida/Florida St. game. We made it through customs and immigration in Atlanta (thanks to some very funny TSA workers) in time to run up to the bar and watch the last few minutes of the game. The Gators won which was the cherry on top of the most amazing vacation of my life.
We made it back to Pensacola late Saturday night, spent Sunday recovering and adjusted to life as we knew it with very little trouble.
I can't say enough (OK-- I have said enough) about the vacation of a lifetime. I was hoping seeing Europe would satisfy a craving. It did and then created about a hundred more to return to the places we saw and new places we want to go.
I'm so thankful for this experience Andrew and I had! I think travelling together is wonderful for a relationship and I'm so grateful! We are blessed!
